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Saints weathered a storm in the opening exchanges but grew into the game as the half went on and went in level at the break.

However, two goals in 10 minutes early in the second half from Courtney Baker-Richardson and Ahmed Obeng were enough to separate the two teams.

St Ives had a few chances, including a one-on-one for Scott Sinclair, but were unable to claw a goal back.

Marheineke said: “It’s funny, you come away to a team who and top of the league are you’re disappointed with getting beat 2-0.

“I’m really happy with lots of our performance. I said to the boys after the game when you come away to teams like this you have to make sure you stay in it, and I thought in the first 15 minutes it would have been really easy to concede and for our heads to go down, but instead they stuck together and got through it.

“We had opportunities and finished the half looking the more likely team to score.

“The beginning of the second half was a real sucker punch. Even then we still had a bit of a go and rather than thinking about changes to try and stay in the game and not get beat four or five, we were making positive substitutions to work out how to get the goal.

“We can be really proud of what we’ve done. We’ve come here and lined up 4-4-2 and had a go at a team who are top of the league.

“We’ve come a long way in a short space of time, although we’re disappointed we have to be realistic it’s a very difficult place to come against a quality side and I’ve got no qualms about the result.”